


Dusk of darkness

by Steangine



Category: Bleach
Genre: AU, M/M, pre slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 03:03:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8604607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo can see spirits, so his life is already pretty messed up. But when on a cold evening he'll run into a sinister man, he'll realize that his life is destined to be messed up even more. [pre relationship][a sort of vampire AU]





	

**Author's Note:**

> The title makes no sense because I had no better ideas.

The evening was cold and the woolly scarf wasn’t enough for Ichigo to feel the warmth he wanted. The tip of his nose was cold, the moisture of his own breath on the wool was freezing his lips and, he couldn’t feel his ears anymore and the feeble wind managed to reach the back of his neck. He regretted forgetting his gloves at his job’s place, since keeping the hands inside the pockets of the coat wasn’t helping at all his blood circulation. Every inch of him was slowly turning cold and Ichigo was afraid he his jointures were about to crackle at every step. However, he could have not minded at all the weather of that strange freezing evening of fall if it wasn’t for a bothersome particular he wasn’t able to ignore anymore.

“Are we there yet?”

That voice had been persecuting him since that morning.

“You’re not coming home with me. Get lost!”

Ichigo snorted at his side, where a feeble shadow of a spirit was floating. The boy could see the other side of the road through the blurred floating figure. It had the shape of a trembling sphere and while moving it left behind a tail that disappeared in threads similar to smoke.

“How dare you talk like that to the great soul of the all might and invincible Kon?!”

“Just leave me alone!”

Kurosaki Ichigo was 16 and he could see the spirits. Actually, he didn’t know if they were spirits, monsters or something else, but he had always been referring at them as _spirits_ for how he could remember. And only he could see them. Most were just quiet presences that didn’t even interact with them, but some others–

“You damn brat! You should be honored I’m giving you my precious attention!”

–were a freaking pain in the ass.

“Why don’t you go find somebody else to give your precious attention then?!”

“Because I can count on my fingers humans who can see us nowadays!”

“You don’t have any fingers! You’re a floating bubble!”

“Who are you calling floating bubble, you idiotic–“

Ichigo never knew what kind of an idiot he was.

A wave of wind exploded into a rumble. A cloud of dust surrounded them and Ichigo lost track of the spirit in that gray thick mist that covered everything. He walked forward to go out from there, but just after two steps a body collided into him. Ichigo bended his knees and barely managed to hold the dead weight that fell on him.

“W-what?!”

The dead weight was an alive male with light blue spiky hair, so pale that he looked sick, heavy breathing and giving Ichigo a ferocious glare while holding onto his clothes. He had–holy shit, was a mask that skull covering his cheek? Before Ichigo could ask anything, another wave of wind, coming with a roar, dissolved the veil of dust and his surroundings appeared again. What he saw froze him on the spot.

A giant evil grin, a giant sturdy body and a sinister skull-alike white mask similar to the jaw of a skull on his chin. A giant appeared out of nowhere, his huge feet planted into the tar he broke with the bare weight of his landing. His lips were stretched into a large, ominous smile and his teeth grinded with a sinister noise as he grinned.

Ichigo was used to fights. Because of his unusual bleached hair, he was often made fun of, most of the thugs always hassled him and he was always forced to reply with his fists. However, that man didn’t even seem human. He had the shape of a human, but something inside Ichigo was warning him that he was an opponent he couldn’t face. A long and slow shiver spread in every inch of his body, while he stared inside those dark eyes. Ichigo trembled as his chest was clutched into a painful clamp and realized he was experiencing a sensation he had never felt before.  
Fear. That was fear. As intrusive as an illness, making his limbs weaker and his knees so limp he surrendered to the dead weight of the man on him. Ichigo fell on the street under the pressure of the hysterical laugh of the giant. He couldn’t just divert his eyes from him.

“So pathetic, Grimmjow! You need a human brat to stand still!”

His loud voice paralyzed Ichigo. All his body was falling into a tingling numbness as his last strengths were sucked away at the presence of that monster. Monster was the only word that irrationally resonated inside Ichigo’s head.

The giant took a single step forward, taking with him crumbles of tar. Suddenly a voice shrieked right in front of Ichigo and a pulsing transparent light appeared between him and the monster.

“Stupid brat, run!”

The loud voice of the spirit pierced inside Ichigo’s ears and switched something inside him. The boy felt like every inch of him awakened together with his spirit that was about to be crushed by the pressure of the giant monster. The strength flew back into his body and Ichigo jumped on his feet.  
He didn’t hesitate carrying the man on his shoulders and clearly saw the giant being confused at the floating spirit’s arrival, so he just took the chance and run away in the opposite direction as fast as his legs allowed him. He turned at the first corner and pushed himself into the maze of tiny streets of that neighborhood mostly following the vague memories he had of that place where he used to play in when he was a child. Ichigo tried to realize if the monster was following him, but he didn’t dare turning around and all he could hear was the sound of his blood streaming inside his ears and the heavy breaths that itched his dry throat.

As he spotted an abandoned building, Ichigo rushed there and the very moment he stepped inside that floor with no doors or windows he felt safer, but he stopped walking only when he found a covered spot under the stairs. That slight sensation of safety was enough for the effort to flow into his muscles; his shoulders, arms and legs didn’t stop quivering with tiny pulses of the muscles and Ichigo almost let the body fall as he leaned the man on the floor.

“He-hey…”

He was still recovering his breath. And the man looked like he wasn’t breathing at all.

Ichigo kneeled next to him. A feeble ray of the street lights from outside were allowing him to see the pale features and a huge red stain spreading on his clothes at the level of the stomach. Ichigo touched his right shoulder, feeling an unexpected wetness drenched his fingertips. It was blood.

“D-don’t you dare dying on me!”

Despite being son of a doctor, Ichigo didn’t know what to do to prevent him from dying. If he wasn’t already dead, but he shooed away that thought as his fingers trembled in the attempt of taking the mobile phone. When he grabbed it, a stupid doubt blocked his movements: call first the ambulance or the police? What if that monster reached them? Would the police be enough to restrain it?

A tiny moan interrupted his flow of thoughts. Ichigo looked down and his attention was caught by the tired blue eyes of the man who, luckily, was still alive and had some energies left to wake up from the slumber.

“Don’t worry!” Ichigo made his voice sound so sure he actually started believing that everything was okay. “I’ll call an ambulance, you’ll be alright!”

As he pressed the first number, the man tried to grip his wrist but didn’t manage to held on to him and the hand fell down on the dusty ground. Ichigo couldn’t understand why he was mesmerized by his lips moving without a single sound leaving the mouth. He completely forgot about calling for help, instead was eagerly staring at those severe but handsome features and at that skin, so pale and smooth that didn’t look real at all.

“…me…”

“What?”

He was trying to say something. That syllable hissed with a huge effort captured Ichigo, who bended down to keep his ear closer to the man’s mouth and hear his words.

“Stupid brat!”

The spirit. His voice rang loudly behind Ichigo and his ears hurt. But it was too late.

A sharp pain exploded on Ichigo’s throat, yet he wasn’t able to make a single sound. His mouth was wide opened because of the surprise and all his fear, shock and bewilderment were blocked inside his throat, where the man, with a sudden jolt, sank his teeth. A hand grabbed his hair and Ichigo felt the blood flowing out of his body through the bite that pierced his flesh. He clearly heard the continuous sounds of the liquid being eagerly drank by the man; together with his blood also all the sensations he was feeling were leaving him. Ichigo was falling into something similar to a sweet sleep, embraced by a gentle tiredness that took away from him the control of his body; his limbs turned so heavy that he didn’t even had the will of bothering about them anymore.

The man pushed him against the dirty floor and his weight on him was as comfortable as a cozy blanket. The lips trembling against his skin were cold, the harsh teeth and the groans of satisfaction gave Ichigo an unknown emotional pulse, similar to embarrassment, but there was something more that hadn’t a name. Ichigo run his fingers through the messy hair, so soft that he couldn’t resist and slowly massaged them. But his sight was turning blur and Ichigo saw tiny gray particles swinging in front of his eyes against the dark ceiling.  
His eyes hurt like some dust entered them. He blinked and the man abandoned his throat with a smack. He blinked again and Ichigo wondered if he could just sleep there, while the man stood up with his dirty clothes and magnetic look. He blinked for the last time and an explosion of dust not so far from them wasn’t enough to hide the arrival of the giant.

The man didn’t look bothered at all by that threatening entrance. He took off his white jacket and threw it on Ichigo. As the cloth covered his face, the boy lost his consciousness inside a deep sleep.

 

 

 

Morning.

Yuzu was saying something. Or maybe it was Karin. Surely not their mother, she never used that harsh tone of voice. None of the family recalled they had ever seen Masaki angry or even only a bit annoyed.

Ichigo woke up because of the sound of his family’s voice, but he didn’t want to open his eyes. His head was spinning, giving him the impression that if he were to open his eyes, he would have seen the world around him revolving. However, when his father from downstairs clearly expressed his idea of awakening his lazy son, Ichigo found enough confidence in physics to open his eyes and witnessing that the world in fact wasn’t revolving, it was just his head that tricked him.

He sat down on the bed, but didn’t stand up immediately. Waiting few seconds was enough to realize that his head spinning was just somehow the result of the sleep; maybe he had slept in an uncomfortable position, that was all. He finally got up from the bed and was glad that he could walk without faltering.

When he opened the door, he made sure the sound was heard by everyone to prevent his father from jumping at him as usual.

“Good morning Ichigo.”

The first who greeted him was his mother. Everyone had already changed into day clothes, while he was there with his messy pajama and the awareness he looked like someone who had his head smacked repeatedly.

“Ichi-nii, are you okay?”

“You shouldn’t stay up all night reading adult magazines.”

“Karin! Ichi-nii isn’t that kind of boy!”

Ichigo let his sisters quarrel as he sat down. His mother gently caressed his hair and touched his forehead.

“You don’t seem to be feverish. Do you want to stay at home?”

“No, I’m fine…”

His voice came out groggy.

“Where’s the water?”

“Here…”

Someone, a male, next to him handed the bottle. It wasn’t his father, who was finishing his meal as fast as he could to go at the clinic. Ichigo turned and exchanged look with a man sitting at their table. He had messy spiky light blue hair styled in a very singular way.

“Thank you.”

Ichigo took the water and their fingers slightly touched. His hand was really warm.

Yes, the student from abroad who arrived two days before. Ichigo hadn’t gotten used to his presence yet, at the contrary of his whole family; Yuzu especially acted as if he was another brother she wanted to take care of.

“Ichi-nii, you better hurry or you’ll be late. Grimmjow isn’t familiar with the surroundings yet and can’t go to school on his own.”

Karin scolded him and Grimmjow shrugged.

“I’ve already memorized the way to the school. I don’t need him.”

Somehow Ichigo felt annoyed by the rude way Grimmjow discarded him and that gave him a vibe that brought him closer to a complete awakening.

After breakfast he felt better and the shower renewed him. Ichigo looked at his face while he was finishing buttoning the jacket of his uniform: there were no sign of that strange daze that caught him at his awakening. He looked at his forehead and then bended a bit his head back to inspect his chin.

“Uh?”

Ichigo touched his throat. He wasn’t sure, yet he felt a strange tickle that lasted only for a second, an itchy pressure that made his spine quiver from shoulders to the lower back.

“What the…?”

He suddenly thought about Grimmjow. He came from Spain to improve his Japanese and he… he was from abroad for sure. And his skin was pale, his lips cold and his clothes drenched in his own blood. Why blood? He looked perfectly fine that morning. Ah. But that giant monster attacked them and Grimmjow was dying and–

Ichigo leaned both hands around his throat, his eyes stared at his own scared reflection on the mirror. The images exploded inside his mind all at once.

“He bit me.”

As soon as he remembered it, a strong grip clenched on his left arm and Ichigo was slammed against the wall. A hand covered his mouth and he stared at Grimmjow. Ichigo could have escaped, but those blue feral eyes froze him there.

“So you really are one of them?”

_ What? _ He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t. However, his eyebrows arched into a confused expression and Grimmjow read his question.

“A _Remnant_. Centuries ago many humans had the power to see creatures with supernatural powers, now they won’t even see that bastard  Yammy if he was to walk around.”

Ichigo was even more puzzled.

“You saw that stupid spirit from yesterday. And me and Yammy.”

_ Kon _ . Ichigo recalled him. But who was Yammy? The monster?

“And also managed to escape despite Yammy’s spiritual pressure.” Grimmjow observed him in silence, showing a concentrated face. “I’ll let you talk, but don’t scream, brat.”

The hand was warm because of Ichigo’s own breath and it was relieving breathing some fresh air.

“Who’re you calling brat?”

His voice was firm and full of annoyance. Ichigo glared at Grimmjow, his eyes weren’t trapping him anymore.

“I was already older than any human around me when I witnessed the Spanish Armada being erased by the Virgin Queen. You are a brat.”

He had a point, Ichigo hated to admit it, but he had to. After the first acceptance, a sense of wonder took him over.

“What? It was like 500 years ago.”

“My race has a long lifespan.”

Ichigo touched his throat again.

“Vamp–“

Grimmjow clamped again his hand on his mouth. He felt Grimmjow’s fingers grabbing his jaw and Ichigo was afraid he would have broken it. He grasped his wrist, trying to make him weaken the grip, but it was useless. Grimmjow looked angry, his eyes sharp and filled with a sinister glimpse.

“Don’t-call-me-like-that.”

Ichigo nodded and that was enough for Grimmjow to let him go again. The boy snarled.

“You could have told me in a gentler way.” He spat out. “What did you do to my family? Why do they think you are a student from abroad staying here?”

“I brainwashed them. I also brainwashed you, but since I drank your blood to recover, the effect didn’t last as much as I wanted.”

“Why?”

Grimmjow lost the threatening aura that exploded in that single instant. The way he was looking at him made Ichigo recall an adult looking at an annoying child who wants to know too many things in a single row.

“You are a _Remnant_. A lucky one. Not all the creatures are just annoying idiots like that one from yesterday. You saw  Yammy. And since you are a magnet for them, I’ll use you as a bait for those I’m hunting.”

“WHAT?!”

“In exchange, I’ll protect you and your family.”

“From what?”

Ichigo was angry and didn’t care that Grimmjow could probably split him into two halves only with a hand, he talked to him showing how he despised him and his doing.

“From Yammy for sure. He was about to kill me and not only you helped me escaping, but also helped me recovering.”

“Thanks a lot. He was going to kill you anyway.”

“It was an ambush. Other people helped him and I lost contact with my subordinates. That bastard Szyaelaporro injected me with a drug.” Grimmjow gave Ichigo a quick glance. “If it weren’t for their dirty tricks, they wouldn’t have been able to lay a single finger on me.”

“Yes, sure…”

Ichigo wasn’t convinced at all, he wanted to ask more, but the voice of his mother stopped him.

“Ichigo, Grimmjow! You’ll be late!”

He expected Grimmjow to reply harshly and not caring to what she had just said. But he exited the bathroom with a “Yes, we’re leaving.” leaving Ichigo alone.

 

 

 

There were many things Ichigo wanted to ask Grimmjow and, because of that, he just walked next to him without saying a single word. A question made other two popping out into his mind and he didn’t know where to start.

“Where’s Kon?”

He ended up asking the most useless thing.

“Kon?”

“The spirit from yesterday. It was yesterday, right?”

“Yes, it was. And that spirit followed us. When I brought you home he entered one of your sisters’ stuffed toy. I locked that annoying shit into a drawer.”

Ichigo signed mentally to free him after school.

“You talked about _Remnants_. But in my family I’m the only one who can see spirits.”

“I’m not so informed about it either. I just know that sometimes the blood of the ancient humans awakens and a _Remnant_ appears.”

Grimmjow inspected Ichigo again with his eyes.

“You keep looking at me. Stop that! Geez…” Ichigo massaged his head. “What happened to that monster from yesterday?”

“He was helped by Ulquiorra.” Another name that Ichigo associated to a black unknown figure. “And escaped before I could kill him. Sucker…”

“Then he’ll be back…”

“Not as soon as you’d expect. I made sure to break his mask, so his memories will be shattered and difficult to retrieve.”

Mask. Ichigo recalled the mask on Grimmjow’s face, but there was no trace of it.

“You had a mask too.”

“I changed my features to look human.”

Ichigo looked at him. Not like Grimmjow didn’t look human the night before, but having a mask similar to an animal’s jaw attached to his face would have brought up many unwanted questions. He ended up looking at him and realized that his features were truly different from those of Japanese people and maybe that made Grimmjow handsome at his eyes. But the uniform of the school somehow didn’t fit him. He looked more like a teacher than a student.

While glancing at him, Ichigo realized that it was morning and Grimmjow was walking around normally. He wasn’t a vampire, so what was he?

“You said you don’t want to be called v… that word starting with v.” He hurried to correct himself. “Then how’s your race called?”

“In my original language, _Atardecer_.”

Ichigo frowned. “Atarudasera?”

He received an amused grin that pissed him off.

“Don’t try anymore. Japanese people can’t really pronounce anything beside their own language.”

“Hey!”

Ichigo wondered why he hated being associated to vampires, but decided he didn’t want to investigate further as it didn’t seem like a nice topic to Grimmjow. They didn’t talk anymore until they reached a crossroad and waited for the light of the traffic signal to turn green. Unexpectedly, Grimmjow spoke of his own will.

“You are really carefree for being a human.” He stated. “I expected you to put on a tougher fight when you realized what was going on. But you accepted everything pretty easily.”

“You said you would have protected my family. I feel like I could trust you.”

“And I will protect them and you.”

Hearing those words relieved a bit Ichigo.

“Or else it would be difficult finding another _Remnant_. Now that I have an easy incoming of creatures to exchange for money with that mad blonde hat I won’t let it go that easily.”

And hearing the last part buried his mood.

He sighed. “What was I expecting, really…?”

They turned around the corner, the school appeared right in front of them and Ichigo had many other questions that would have remained unquestioned for the time being.

“What will you be protecting us from? I’ve never met anything else besides spirits.”

Again, Grimmjow gave him more than a simple glance. Ichigo felt his eyes lingering on him and the back of his head tingled slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“How old are you?”

“I’ll turn seventeen this year. Why?”

“I’m not keen on the topic. But somehow the more you’ll grow up, the more you’ll attract every kind of creature. Yesterday you managed to see me.”

“What’s so special about you?”

Ichigo frowned.

“Back then only few among the _Remnants_ had enough spiritual power to see us _Atardacers_.” Grimmjow tilted his head and pinched his chin between the thumb and the index. “If I were to use you as a bait for  Neliel, I could finally take back my sword from that bitch thief.”

“N-Neliel? Bait?!”

“She’s like me. She hunts rare relics.”

“I’m not doing the bait for you!!!”

Ichigo raised his voice and regretted it immediately as some of his schoolmates looked in their direction. He lowered the tone, but didn’t softened the harsh expression; the contracted eyebrows were giving a harsher glimpse to his eyes. However, Grimmjow didn’t look caught into that attempt of Ichigo of imposing his presence. His smirk turned on a tingle of rage inside Ichigo’s chest. Grimmjow’s mocking attitude was bothering him.

“You are already a bait, Kurosaki. Sooner or later I won’t be the only one around you. And when that time’ll come, you’ll pray for me not leaving your side.”

That omen left inside Ichigo an unpleasant sensation. But he didn’t want to show it to Grimmjow, so he simply frowned.

“Like hell I’ll ever pray you!”

**Author's Note:**

> Despite the ending, this is born as a simple one shot as it was the main idea for Halloween and I ended up writing something completely different. But Grimmjow sucking Ichigo's blood is something.


End file.
